tolkiens legendarium - What material are weapons and armors in the Middle-earth forged from?

Re-watching the series again, this question came to my mind. Dwarves are known for their mining and smithing skills. We know they use a variety of material, such as Mithril to forge armor. Other than dwarves, pretty much anyone wields weapons of varying quality and length.

However, the only mention of coal in the whole series is in Hobbit:

Just let any one say I chose the wrong man or the wrong house, and you can stop at thirteen and have all the bad luck you like, or go back to digging coal.

Without coal, it would be almost impossible to forge iron weapons, especially in mass production, but Saruman uses wood to fuel his gigantic furnaces.

The weapons and armor used in series all look formidable, but if everyone is to use bronze weapons or copper weapons, they would look just as formidable.

So, which material is used in Middle-earth for weapon and armor? Book answers are preferred only.

Answer

They used many of the metals that were available to the Nordic peoples in our own early history, as well as the mysterious "Moria Steel" which was known as Mithril.

“Bilbo had a corslet of mithril-rings that Thorin gave him.”
_{Fellowship of the Ring - Book II: Chapter 4, Journey in the Dark}

Some helmets were made of iron:

“on the front of their iron helms was set an S-rune, wrought of some white metal.”
_{The Two Towers - Book III: Chapter 1, The Departure of Boromir}

“But he chose a cap of iron and leather that fitted well upon his round head; and a small shield he also took.”
_{The Two Towers - Book III: Chapter 6, The King of the Golden Hall}

There were also strange metals that were unknown, that were used to make more special blades (The Barrow knives)

“For each of the hobbits he chose a dagger, long, leaf-shaped, and keen, of marvellous workmanship, damasked with serpent-forms in red and gold. They gleamed as he drew them from their black sheaths, wrought of some strange metal, light and strong, and set with many fiery stones.”
_{Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1: Chapter 8, Fog on the Barrow Downs}

Steel armour also existed, as well as weapons.

and the Gondolindrim were strong and clad in mail, and their ranks shone like a river of steel in the sun.

And speaking about the Dragon-helm of Dorlomin

That helm was wrought of grey steel adorned with gold, and on it were graven runes of victory.

Bronze swords also existed and in an earlier version of the Fellowship of the Ring the barrow blades were made of bronze.

'bronze swords, short, leaf-shaped and keen'
_{The Treason of Isengard}